James Burke, who taught at PS 69 in New Springville, pictured above, made anonymous calls falsely accusing other teachers and city Department of Education employees of sexual misconduct, according to a report by schools Special Commissioner of Investigation Richard Condon.Google image

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Staten Island teacher under investigation for his interactions with an autistic boy waged a campaign of false sexual-abuse complaints targeting witnesses against him, their relatives and other city school employees, according to a report by schools Special Commissioner of Investigation Richard Condon.

James Burke, 27, became the subject of an investigation by Condon's office on May 31, when a dean at his school, PS 69 in New Springville, accused him of inappropriate behavior toward an autistic 8-year-old boy, according to the report, which Condon sent to schools Chancellor Carmen Farina on Tuesday.

After that, Condon's office received a flurry of anonymous complaints against the witnesses in that case and their family members, as well as other Department of Education staff members, the report alleges. Many of them led to investigations by the NYPD's Staten Island Special Victims Squad, Condon wrote.

The first complaint came on July 26 -- a male caller who claimed to be the father of a 7-year-old boy attending PS 69 accused a female teacher there of touching his son's private parts when they were alone in the classroom, the report said.

It turned out that the boy didn't live with or even know his father, and the boy's mother told police "there never was a father" in the household, the report said.

More complaints followed -- against the dean who reported the initial complaint to Condon's office, against a female paraprofessional at PS 58, where Burke taught summer school, and against teachers at Tottenville High School, Staten Island Technical High School and the Mark Twain Intermediate School for the Gifted and Talented in Brooklyn, all of whom were related to the witnesses against him, the report said.

Typically, the complaints would allege that a teacher or paraprofessional touched or tickled a student inappropriately, and in each case, the allegations proved unfounded.

Two more anonymous calls were placed to St. John Villa Academy, Condon wrote, accusing the 14-year-old daughter of one of the witnesses of dealing drugs to other students, and bullying.

"Many of the allegations described conduct which was similar to the conduct Burke committed in the prior substantiated SCI case, including tickling, and other inappropriate touching of students," the report said.

The Department of Education brought disciplinary charges against Burke -- who was reassigned -- following the original complaint, and he agreed to "resign irrevocably" on March 31, 2014, the report said.

"Burke's involvement came to light when the investigators who handled the initial substantiated investigation of Burke realized that one of the complaints had been made from Burke's telephone number," the report said.

Further investigation revealed that number contacted Condon's office nine times, St. John Villa twice, and Tottenville, Staten Island Tech and Mark Twain once -- all on days when one of the complaints were called in, the report reads.

Condon said he has referred the matter to Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan.

Donovan spokesman Douglas C. Auer issued the following statement when asked for comment on the matter:

"We review all matters referred to this office by the Special Commissioner of Investigation and take appropriate action when necessary. That being said, in regard to the SCI investigation into the interactions a Department of Education employee had with an autistic 8-year-old male student, this office has reviewed the case and will not pursue any charges since the evidence did not warrant criminal prosecution.

"As for the SCI investigation into that same DOE employee making false allegations of inappropriate conduct against others, we will thoroughly review the matter once we have received the case files from SCI, which we expect shortly."